Three graduate students from the MSU Plant Resilience Institute will be presenting posters at #PlantBio2026! Be sure to stop by Lydia, Erin, and Catherine's posters to learn more about #plantresilience.

✨ Paper spotlight ✨ (🧵 1/6) The incredible vulnerability that reproduction poses for plant species in a warming world nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Plant reproduction is highly sensitive to heat, often failing before growth declines.

A new study from MSU Plant Resilience Institute Professor @davidlowry.bsky.social, led by former Lowry lab postdoc Katherine Toll, reveals a surprising role for plant hormones in shaping resilience to harsh coastal environments. Read more: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... #PlantScience #EvolutionaryBiology

Earlier this week, the Plant Cell Atlas SynBio Hackathon brought together early-career researchers at MIT for two days of collaboration and innovation in plant synthetic biology. Thanks to all the organizers, mentors, participants, and sponsors who made this inspiring event possible! 🌱🧬

For those of you heading to #PlantBio2026, you won't want to miss the talks next week from PRI Postdoctoral Fellow Joanna Feehan and PRI Director Sue Rhee! We hope to see you in Ottawa to share advances, foster collaborations, and highlight achievements in #plantscience.

Congratulations to Rhee Lab member Aidan Deneen on receiving the MSU Plant Biotechnology for Health and Sustainability Graduate Training Program Fellowship! 🌱🎉 We’re proud to celebrate this recognition and Aidan’s continued contributions to plant biotechnology and sustainability. 👏 #plantscience

Explore the new annual report from Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), a PRI center-level initiative to synthesize large-scale plant cell data sets! Read more about PCA's continued efforts towards community building, sharing data and methods, and training early-career scientists: bit.ly/4yaHYPI #PlantScience

Don't forget to join us THIS THURSDAY for Dr. Matt Stata's technical training workshop on "Exploring the Many Applications of RNA-seq Data." Learn more and register for this event here: bit.ly/4uDLobX

PRI members involved in the NSF Global Center C-SPIRIT joined researchers from around the globe for the Second Annual C-SPIRIT All-Hands Meeting in Japan! Through international collaboration, PRI and C-SPIRIT are laying the scientific foundation needed to advance resilient agriculture.

We're excited to welcome Dr. Shifa Ansari to PRI! Shifa joins our EWAS-PR project to develop computational approaches for integrating environmental, phenotypic, and genomic data to uncover the drivers of #plantresilience. We look forward to the discoveries ahead! plantresilience.msu.edu/research

For those of you attending #RBMP2026 this week, don't miss PRI faculty member @hatem-rouached.bsky.social's keynote talk on Thursday, "Decoding Nutrient Cues in Plant Developmental Decisions." Learn more at: rbmp2026.com/RBMP/en/info #PlantScience

As GenAI alters the landscape of #plantscience, how should we prepare the next generation of researchers? A new perspective by PRI faculty members Robert VanBuren and Sue Rhee outlines six strategic shifts to help educators and students build AI literacy. Read more: doi.org/10.1093/plce...

Congratulations to @mattstata.bsky.social on his new faculty position at @umassamherst.bsky.social! We're excited to see him build on his work in the @rheelab.bsky.social at the MSU Plant Resilience Institute as he launches the Stata lab this fall!

Don't forget to join us for the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar featuring Dr. Matt Stata! His technical training workshop will be on "Exploring the Many Applications of RNA-seq Data." Learn more and register for this event here: bit.ly/4uDLobX @mattstata.bsky.social

PMN members had a great time attending and helping organize the PSNA 2026 last week! It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the plant science community, share PMN resources, and learn about exciting advances in phytochemistry, plant metabolism, chemical ecology, and related fields.

🎓 Congratulations to Dr. Evan Saldivar! This past Sunday, June 14th, Rhee Lab member Evan was officially hooded in celebration of earning his PhD from Stanford Biology. We are so proud of you, Evan, and excited to see what you do next! 👏 #PlantScience

At the 65th Annual @psna-official.bsky.social Meeting this week, PRI graduate student Bailey Kleven gave an exciting talk in the chemical ecology session, "CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE 8 promotes metabolic immunity against Pectobacterium carotovorum in Arabidopsis." Amazing job, Bailey! #PSNA2026

Don't forget to register and join us TOMORROW June 11, 2026, for a seminar presented by Dr. Daniela Billi on "Survival Potential of Desert Cyanobacteria Under Non-Earth Conditions." Learn more and register: bit.ly/4uDLobX

Congratulations to MGI graduate students Kevin Santiago-Morales and Jessica Lysne who were awarded Dissertation Fellowships from the College of Natural Science and the Graduate School! 👏 Read more here: tinyurl.com/4cps8jza

We’re proud to celebrate Dr. Ian Gilman, NSF Postdoc Fellow in @bobvanburen.bsky.social's lab, for being selected as the 2026 Danny Schnell Plant Biology Outstanding Postdoctoral Awardee! Read more about Ian's postdoctoral experience and future plans: www.canr.msu.edu/news/dr-ian-... #PlantScience

The Application deadline for the SynBio Hackathon has been EXTENDED until June 8, 2026! Apply Now Here: www.plantcellatlas.org/2026-synbio-... *Participants will be reimbursed up to $800 for travel and lodging costs.

Congratulations to PRI Postdoc Fellow @derekdenney.bsky.social, a co-author on the study honored with the 2026 W.S. Cooper Award from @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social! Read "Adaptation and gene flow are insufficient to rescue a montane plant under climate change" at: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We are excited to announce the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar! Join us June 11, 2026, for a seminar presented by Dr. Daniela Billi on "Survival Potential of Desert Cyanobacteria Under Non-Earth Conditions." Learn more and register: bit.ly/4uDLobX

Just under TWO WEEKS LEFT TO APPLY for the PCA SynBio Hackathon! Make sure to apply now! bit.ly/3QpF5Jr

Flooding from extreme rainfall is becoming increasingly common due to climate change, but its ecological impacts are not yet fully understood. New PRI research explores how short-term flooding impacts soil microbial communities, nitrogen, and maize productivity: doi.org/10.1111/aab.... #PlantScience

Congratulations to @bobvanburen.bsky.social for being selected as an MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources 2026 Mid-Career Researcher Awardee! Learn more about the award and Dr. VanBuren's research impact: www.canr.msu.edu/news/hoffman... #PlantScience #ResearchExcellence

The @rheelab.bsky.social is seeking a research assistant III to support the lab’s collaborative projects in molecular and cell biology, international and transdisciplinary initiatives, as well as carry out lab management responsibilities! #PlantSciJobs Apply now: careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Amazing to finally get all of my lab group together in one place! I think this is the first time that this has happened since before the pandemic.

We had a great time at the 2026 MSU Plant Resilience Institute All-Hands Retreat & 10th Anniversary! 🌿 From posters and flash talks to trivia and bingo, it was an incredible chance to connect with such a passionate community. Excited for what’s ahead in PRI’s next decade! #plantscience

Congratulations to Daniel Mok (@dmokplants.bsky.social), graduate student in the Gilbert and VanBuren labs at PRI, for receiving a 2026 New Investigator Award from the Joint Genome Institute!

A heartfelt thank you to our members, alumni, and collaborators who attended the 2026 PRI Retreat and 10th Anniversary Celebration! Together, we will continue to pursue meaningful solutions to the grand challenges of the 21st Century for decades to come. #PRI10 See more photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCTEpZ

When your mentee got 3rd place at #UURAF!!! So proud of Jas’s work developing methods for assessing plant performance between genotypes to answer questions on the effect of Urban Oases! #UndergradResearch #MSU

A new paper led by PRI grad student Asia Hightower introduces a powerful computational tool to examine the shape of any leaf across biological, ecological, evolutionary, and developmental scales. #PlantScience #Morphometrics #ComputationalBiology Read the full publication: doi.org/10.1002/aps3...

🎉 Congrats to Rhee Lab grad student Erin Cushing on earning a Paul Taylor Endowment Award from MSU Plant Biology! This award funds travel for conferences and opportunities to learn new research techniques. 🌱 Way to go, Erin! #PlantScience

Congratulations to Glassmire lab PhD student Kristin Leutgeb for being named an NSF Graduate Research Program Fellow! An entomology student, Kristin researches how plant chemical diversity, particularly crop odors, affects insect interactions to develop biological control strategies. #NSFGRFP

This #EarthDay, we’re reminded that a sustainable future depends on resilient plants. Researchers at the MSU Plant Resilience Institute are pursuing meaningful solutions to the grand challenges of the 21st Century—for Earth today and for generations to come. Learn more: plantresilience.msu.edu

Happy #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay! We’re celebrating the dedicated professionals behind the MSU Plant Resilience Institute across project management, communications, outreach, finance, operations, and germplasm curation. Your work keeps PRI and its center-level grants thriving. Thank you! 🌱

🌿 600+ attendees. 18 booths. 1 fascinating “World of Plants.” At this year's MSU SciFest STEAM Expo, PRI brought together researchers from across campus for a hands-on showcase of interdisciplinary #plantscience booths! Thank you to everyone who participated! View more photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCRsmc

We are excited to announce the next Anhydrobiosis Research, Tools & Techniques Webinar, hosted by the Water and Life Interface Institute (WALII)! Join us May 14, 2026, for a seminar presented by Dr. Pedro Humberto Lebre on the extreme microbial ecology of the Namib Desert! Register: bit.ly/4cvco5z

Are you interested in competing in a time-bound event where participants work to design synthetic genetic circuits to program plants with new functions? If so, apply to the SynBio Hackathon! Applications are due June 1, 2026! Apply Here: bit.ly/3QpF5Jr

Join the dynamic team at MSU's Plant Resilience Institute as the project administrator for SYNCORNET, an ARPA-E-funded research effort focused on improving nitrogen efficiency in corn agriculture! Review of applications begins in just one week! Apply now: careers.msu.edu/jobs/project...

We are TWO WEEKS AWAY from the second installment of the Plant Cell Atlas Imaging Workshop Series: Introduction to 2D and 3D Segmentation with MorphoGraphX! Don't forget to register! plantcellatlas.org/events

Last week, PCA's Dr. Sue Rhee gave a talk on "Understanding and engineering drought resilience in sorghum using modeling and single-cell omics” hosted at the PCA SoCal Single Cell Retreat at the University of California, Riverside! @rheelab.bsky.social

Attendees of the annual @msuscifest.bsky.social STEAM Expo Weekend explored the science behind what we eat at the Thompson lab booth with Anuradha and Eleanor! Young participants explored how seeds and plant structure shape our nutrition and everyday food through hands-on demonstrations. #MSUSciFest

We would like to welcome to the lab Yingtao Li, a visiting postdoc from the University of Tsukuba! Dr. Li will be with the Rhee lab for the next year working with @c-spirit.org. After arriving last night, Dr. Li is already making a difference at #MSUSciFest showcasing how crops defend themselves.

The 2026 #MSUSciFest STEAM Expo Weekend is still in full swing! Bailey and Natalia from the Howe lab are here showcasing how plants defend themselves and adapt to their environments. Learn more about our exhibits: sciencefestival.msu.edu/Event/Tagged...

At the C-SPIRIT Booth at MSU's Science Festival, see how different compounds help defend crops to survive scorching heat, dry soil, or hungry insects! By studying these special natural helpers, C-SPIRIT helps farmers grow strong crops and support a more sustainable future for agriculture.

The Rhee Lab at MSU PRI will be at the MSU Science Festival all weekend! Come check out their booth, and the other PRI booths at the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility, Room 2202 for "The World of Plants!"

The Plant Metabolic Network, a PRI Center Grant, is also at MSU SciFest this weekend! Come learn about how metabolism give plants their smell!

Come check out one of the PRI Center Grant's booths at MSU's SciFest!